Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Rocky Mountain High

A thick fog rolled over the mountain as Christopher and I
left our campsite in Beaver, Utah this morning.Our goal was to reach Denver by dinner, but nearly 600 miles lay before
us.

The drive through Utah was relatively uneventful. The I-70
East lies just above Utah’s various national parks, so we were only able to
catch glimpses of its canyons and mountains. We stopped for lunch in Green River, Utah
(which was neither green nor had a river) and found ourselves facing the Utah
badlands. I am sorry if anyone reading this is from Utah or adores everything
in Utah, but the badlands made me miss the Nevadan desert. My silver car blended right in with the barren,
grey wasteland. A bird even decided it
had suffered through too much of the badlands and flew into my car. Christopher
and I were convinced we had murdered the only living thing in the badlands.

We were quite relieved to reach the Colorado
border after the death of our feathered friend. After a quick pit-stop in Grand Junction, we followed the Colorado
River deep into Rocky Mountain Country. The
deeper we drove into the Rockies, the more mesmerized I became.I loved the slopes, the trees, the rivers,
the railroads. My only complaint was that it rained through most of our journey
making it almost impossible for my tiny car to drive uphill and quite difficult
to appreciate the mountains as much as I would have liked to.

After a long, arduous drive through the rain we arrived on
the outskirts of Denver. Because it was rather late in the day, we only had
time to eat dinner at Cracker Barrel and find our cabin. One day I would enjoy
the opportunity of exploring the city of Denver. I will say that the suburbs
reminded me of a much flatter version of the eastern portion of Orange County
and Corona with significantly more horses and less traffic.

Tomorrow begins our journey through the Midwest! Have you
ever traveled through Utah or Colorado? If so what are your favorite bits? Good
Night and Good Luck!

P.S. We saw at least seven hitchhikers throughout Colorado.
Is this common?